Wildfire Advisory Board
Formation of the La Plata County Wildfire Advisory Board
Throughout 2020 the County participated in Community Planning Assistance for Wildfire (CPAW), a no-cost grant awarded to the County. CPAW consisted of county stakeholders working with wildfire planning and forest/fuel management specialists, as well as the United States Forest Service Missoula Fire Science Lab personnel.
October 6, 2020 the final CPAW recommendations were presented to the Board of County Commissioners and the final report published online here. The third recommendation (of 3) was for the Board to transition the CPAW steering group (stakeholders) to a dedicated wildfire council. By Board resolution 2021-09, the Wildfire Advisory Board (WAB) became effective on March 9, 2021.
The WAB shall perform various roles including making recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on methods to reduce wildfire risk in La Plata County, working with community partners, obtaining grant funding for and or recommendations for developing and implementing mitigation, the La Plata County CWPP, and options for adoption of ordinances, as well as supporting community education and outreach. Description available here.
Membership
The WAB is comprised of volunteer members of the public who were selected by the Board to serve staggered terms.
| Board Chair | Debbie Lee |
| Vice Chair | Will Walsh |
| Regular Member | Chessa Gill |
| Regular Member | Marilyn McCord |
| Regular Member | Dan Armentano |
| Regular Member | Ron Duvall |
| Regular Member | Miles Ellis |
| Regular Member | David Dallison |
| Alternate Member | Charles Jon Westrup |
| Alternate Member |
Ex-officio members
| Durango Fire Protection District | Karola Hanks |
| United States Forest Service, San Juan | Cary Newman |
| Los Pinos Fire Protection District | John Gilbert |
| Colorado State Forest Service | Ryan Cox |